Date: Friday, 16 March 2018
The court order came in response to a petition submitted by human rights activists against the government’s plan to deport some 40,000 African asylum seekers to 'third countries,' reported to be Rwanda and Uganda
The High Court of Justice on Thursday temporarily halted the deportation of asylum-seekers to Rwanda and Uganda.
The court order came in response to a petition submitted by human rights activists against the government’s plan to deport some 40,000 African asylum seekers to “third countries,” reported to be Rwanda and Uganda.
At a hearing on Monday, Supreme Court President Justice Esther Hayut had asked the state to reexamine its agreements with Rwanda and Uganda and ascertain if they were confidential. On Thursday the judges decided to freeze the deportations until they decide on the case.
Justice Hanan Melcer had said at Monday’s hearing that the denial by these “third countries” that they made any agreement with Israel to take in asylum seekers who’d left Israel involuntarily could be a problem for the deportees. He said such an agreement was necessary to protect the asylum seekers in the countries they were being sent.
“If the agreement is broken, they could go to court there and present the agreement. But when the authorities say there’s no agreement, what will they show there?” Melcer asked the prosecution, without naming the states.
'The state had planned to deport the first group of asylum seekers at the beginning of next month. The authorities were planning to arrest and imprison asylum seekers who didn’t leave, and fine their employers.
Leaflets distributed to asylum seekers said that the $3,500 grant given to those who agreed to leave would be reduced gradually. The leaflets said asylum seekers who were forced to go to Rwanda would receive a visa enabling them to work there and ensure they wouldn’t be deported to their country of origin.
The Holot prison in the Negev closed down on Wednesday, after having interned thousands of Eritrean and Sudanese asylum seekers over the past four years. The closure is part of the state’s expulsion campaign.
